Collection online

bowl

Object type

Museum number

PDF.622

Description

Porcelain bowl with straight sides slightly flared at the rim. There is a roundel with a woman and child on a terrace in underglaze blue in the centre of the interior. There is an inscription on the exterior.

Inscription Position

Inscription Language

Inscription Content

Inscription Transliteration

Inscription Translation

Inscription Comment

Six-character Longqing mark in underglaze blue on the base.

Inscription Type

inscription

Inscription Position

Outside

Inscription Language

Chinese

Inscription Content

Inscription

Inscription Translation

The cuckoo sings through the night unceasingly. Take heed lest the silk worms have not leaves enough. The waning moon sinks through the willows before the house. The pretty girls continue to dance and sing, and have not returned.

Inscription Comment

28-character inscription on the outside.

Curator's comments

Published PDF date : Ming Longqing 1567-1572Room 95 label text:

PDF 622

Blue and white bowl with inscription

Longqing (AD1567–72) ceramics are particularly rare as the emperor only reigned for six years. Stylistically they relate closely to Jiajing and Wanli imperial wares. The inscription on this bowl is a poem and has been translated: ‘The cuckoo sings through the night unceasingly. Take heed lest the silk worms have not leaves enough. The waning moon sinks through the willows before the house. The pretty girls continue to dance and sing, and have not returned’.